The amount of earth that must be moved and processed to yield one pound of lithium exceeds the total volume of a typical Appalachian mountain. Each electric vehicle requires about 1 lb of lithium in its lifetime. 1 mountain per car is the cost in environmental destruction.
I do not understand the chemistry of the Lithium ion batteries - when the battery is depleted/kaput after 10 years, is the lithium recoverable from the battery, or has it been consumed/reduced in form so that it cannot be harvested and re-used?
The lithium in Nevada is sourced from clay and is a complex process. Its production will not be less than the cost of lithium from Chili’s brine lakes which contain more than 1/2 of the earth’s known lithium deposits.
Um, not sure where you got that.
Lithium is mined in more than one manner.
At Silverpeak NV they pump it up out of the ground and use a series of ponds to concentrate it.
I have seen this operation for myself.
Not much visible impact.